RE Yann M’Villa, apparently he spent minutes at the start of last week’s game at home in Rennes hiding his head under the hoodie. Shame? A message for the FFF? If so, they certainly didn’t show any mercy.

Well, my constant badgering for Shawcross’ inclusion rather fell on it’s arse didn’t it? At least it’ll warn the big clubs off him. 30 seconds in, and he gets left for dead by The Master. Don’t write him off just yet though.

The Wizard of the Dri….ZLATAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - 14 November 2012 11:22 PM

Well, my constant badgering for Shawcross’ inclusion rather fell on it’s arse didn’t it? At least it’ll warn the big clubs off him. 30 seconds in, and he gets left for dead by The Master. Don’t write him off just yet though.

The Wizard of the Dri….ZLATAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - 14 November 2012 11:22 PM

Well, my constant badgering for Shawcross’ inclusion rather fell on it’s arse didn’t it? At least it’ll warn the big clubs off him. 30 seconds in, and he gets left for dead by The Master. Don’t write him off just yet though.

I’m not sure what to think of this. On the one hand Brazil have been a bit underwhelming in the last two years and were outclassed by the Mexicans at the Olympics, on the other hand Menezes seemed to have a decent team-building project going and now may not be the best time to throw it all out and start again from scratch.

The two favourites for the job are our old pal ‘Felipao’ Scolari and Santos’ Muricy Ramalho (the man they tried to hire in 2010 before settling for Menezes as 2nd choice). I reckon they’ll play it safe and give the job back to Scolari again.

I’m not sure what to think of this. On the one hand Brazil have been a bit underwhelming in the last two years and were outclassed by the Mexicans at the Olympics, on the other hand Menezes seemed to have a decent team-building project going and now may not be the best time to throw it all out and start again from scratch.

The two favourites for the job are our old pal ‘Felipao’ Scolari and Santos’ Muricy Ramalho (the man they tried to hire in 2010 before settling for Menezes as 2nd choice). I reckon they’ll play it safe and give the job back to Scolari again.

Should have never been given the job. He was a populist and an average coach imo. I’ve been saying he should be sacked for awhile now. The CBF wasted 2 years with Menezes and now 2014 could be in danger.

They never should have fired Dunga, everyone knows it even people who didn’t like him. Another 4 years after 2010 and Brazil would be a machine right now.

Tite has been linked to the job as well. I’d rather him than Ramalho who is being brought in apparently because he knows the Santos players.

I guess one of the big problems the CBF face in this type of situation is that there aren’t many Brazilian managers with a lot of experience or success outside Brazilian domestic football.

At least Muricy Ramalho has won the Copa Libertadores recently, but even he has probably only ever played one game against European opposition (last year’s 4-0 drubbing by Barcelona, where Santos were comprehensively outplayed and out-thought all over the pitch, despite having spent about 6 months focusing entirely on preparing for that match).

Tite is in pretty much the same boat: one Copa Libertadores title under his belt, but as far as I can tell he’s never faced a European team, either as a player or manager. That might not have been a problem at previous world cups, but with Brazil not as strong as they once were and the evolution in playing style of Spain, Germany etc., I think it’s an issue now.

Admittedly I don’t follow Brazilian Serie A so I don’t know very much about Tite or the other managers being mentioned, but on paper Scolari looks like the ‘safe’ option to me. He’s coached all over the world and, of course, he knows how to win a world cup.

I’m not sure about the knock Scolari’s reputation may have taken from pretty much leading Palmeiras to relegation though. His stock’s quite low at the moment compared to what it’s been for the last 10 years. I wouldn’t be surprised if they went for Ramalho, the Neymar connection being a key reason, as I guess he’d be Neymar’s first choice. Also on the issue of him not playing European sides, they’ve still got 18 months of friendlies to get the new man experience of playing European teams, but also as the tournament is taking place in Brazil, they may not be worrying about European teams too much as the conditions will favour South Americans

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